Galesburg Business has a Happy Holiday

A company that started this past year in Galesburg’s sustainable business center is having a happy holiday season. Sitka Salmon Shares sells portions, or shares, of a fisherman’s catch to customers across the Midwest.

Customers receive the fish along with information on how, and by whom, the fish was caught. The company was founded by Nic Mink, while he was a visiting professor at Knox College. Mink is now a Urban Sustainable Food Fellow at Butler University in Indianapolis.

Mink said he wanted the company to have the same feel as a farmers market.

“We want our members at the community supported fishery to be able to interact with their fisherman in that same kind of way,” Mink said.

Marsh Skeele, one of Sitka Salmon Shares fisherman.

Credit Sitka Salmon Shares

The company uses letters from the fisherman, based in Sitka Alaska, along with social media to connect customers with their fisherman.

Mink said earlier this year he hoped to sell three-thousand pounds of fish. As of the end of the year the company has sold 11 thousand pounds. He said within two years he hopes to distribute fish to restaurants and within 3 years to select retail stores and eventually to reach 60 to 70 thousand pounds.

Mink said the company offered a special “Christmas Share” and was only expecting to sell a couple dozen packages. That number increased to over two hundred after the company was mentioned on Forbes magazine’s website.

After this year’s success, Mink said Sitka is expanding into Indianapolis. He also said that there is currently a waiting list for the shares. The next season hasn’t started yet, but once it does customers will start to receive their shares.